The Conservative Party has pledged a ‘complete rethink’ of social housing in the wake of the Grenfell disaster - admitting tenants are being ‘failed by the system’.

In a sign the government is feeling the pressure in the wake of the tragedy, communities secretary Sajid Javid admitted social housing system ‘has to change’, promising and ‘top to bottom’ review following the fire that left more than 80 people dead.

“It is a matter of basic justice,” he told Conservative delegates at conference in Manchester.

He also pledged to end the ‘great injustice’ of the ‘broken housing market’ more widely, including more rights for private renters.

Mr Javid was speaking less than a week after Jeremy Corbyn put the implications of Grenfell at the heart of his own conference speech, while promising rent controls to help young people facing spiralling housing costs.

(Image: Getty Images Europe)

The communities secretary’s own speech outlined a string of ways in which the current housing system is not working.

“I want to focus on a great injustice - the impact on young people of our broken housing market,” he said.

“We see the consequences of this every day. And one which has become especially clear over the last few months is that we need a complete rethink of our approach to social housing.

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“Far too often we hear of residents’ complaints going unanswered or even totally ignored, of repairs left undone, of basic fire safety hazards unaddressed.

“Grenfell Tower was a community tragically torn apart - and communities like this exist in social housing all over the country. And those communities are being failed by the system.”

(Image: PA)

Noting that since the disaster ‘some truly appalling cases have come to light’, including inadequate fire doors and cracked walls in social housing run by the London boroughs of Camden and Southwark, he said Conservatives ‘could not accept that’.

“We cannot have a system that ignores people, that ignores their complaints and condemns them to living in homes that are just not safe,” he said.

“This has to change. This will change. Our top-to-botton review of social housing will ensure this.”

Mr Javid did not outline what steps the government would take to improve social housing, however, or pledge to build any more.

But his speech did outline a raft of new policies aimed at private renters, as well as confirming that new legislation to ban letting fees would be published imminently.

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He said some landlords do not offer a good, secure home’, pointing to ‘unreasonable’ rent rises, repairs left undone and the threat of revenge evictions. All letting agents will in future be more tightly regulated in order to make sure they meet ‘strict minimum standards’, he said.

All landlords will have to be covered by a redress scheme backed by an ombudsman, so tenants can resolve disputes.

And a new ‘housing court’ will be set up specifically to look at justice on related cases.

Meanwhile this autumn’s budget will bring forward ‘incentives’ for landlords who offer tenancies of ‘at least 12 months’, adding that they should not be able to remove innocent tenants without three months’ notice.

“Renters, just like homeowners, should be able to feel secure in their own home,” he added.